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Vasuki

“There she is! The beautiful stony cold welcoming walls of Daemerall!” Sen yelled. The place looked just like it had the last time Vasuki had seen it, freshly cleaned outer walls that stretched miles in all directions with a gate at the end of dirt roads that connected it to other cities across the continent. The walls were cleaned of any signs of dirt, to give it a more inviting appearance. Cabana had told him that the walls were eight feet thick and completely solid. Ballistae were ready to be put in position to fire at any beast that approached the city at a moments notice. A large tower stood above the walls within the city to watch from every direction.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be like this.” Audra claimed.

“The most guarded city in the kingdom, excluding the capital of course.” Sen said. “Not even a dragon would attack this place. They all know they’ll be shot down and killed anywhere near this place.” He added.

Vasuki quickly pulled out the note Cabana had left them and began to double check their destination.

“We need to head to the Rising Bull Inn. Any idea where that is?” Vasuki asked putting the note away. Tei put a finger to her lips and thought for a moment.

“I’m pretty sure that’s on the southern side of the town. Once you go down that way people will be able to tell you. It’s quite well known, a bit pricey in my opinion.” She claimed.

“Pricey my ass! That place is one of the most expensive places in town!” Sen added.

“Why is it so expensive?” Audra asked.

“Because the chef there used to be the Royal Chef at the capital before he decided to move on to another job. And then he was the one that decided who got hired in every other position. The entire inn is run like it would be at the castle in Trinity.” Sen said.

“I wonder why Cabana told us to go there to find Noelem then?” Vasuki asked, looking over at Audra.

“Not sure, guess we’ll see soon enough.”

Passing the threshold that put them in the city was refreshing. They immediately felt much safer. They’ve had an encounter with a Shallow, a pack of Varulv and was hunted by a dragon all in less than a week, and now they were finally at their destination, they were finally safe.

Daemerall was huge, Vasuki had been here before but the size of the city still amazed him, he could see in Audra’s eyes that she was in awe at the vastness of it as well. They both grew up in small towns with people that suffered from monsters, now they were in a city where the guards would take care of the problems for them.

Every building here was made of stone or brick, most of which had an overhanging roof where people, mostly humans, could be found cooking on a stone grill, or just lounging around. The road was made of stones that weren’t quite laid down evenly making the road somewhat bumpy but it was still better than the ride here.

“A few rules to follow.” Sen began, “You’re both variants, stay away from the northern side of the city they don’t like our kind. There’s a public bathhouse near the Rising Bull Inn, I’d suggest you wash up and get a fresh set of clothes with whatever money you have.” Sen said pulling the horses to a stop. “It was a pleasure meeting you two.” He said pointing to a building titled ‘Clothing for guys and gals.’ “You two don’t cause trouble.” Sen ordered with a smile.

“Thanks for helping us out, we owe you.” Vasuki said as he hopped out of the back of the wagon. He helped Audra out of the back of the wagon and waved goodbye as the couple left them.

Vasuki supported a little bit of Audra’s weight as the two of them took in the new surroundings.

“It’s so different.” Audra claimed.

“This is your first time being in a city isn’t it?” Vasuki asked.

“Yeah, it’s nothing like what I’m used to. Do all cities have walls like this one?” She asked.

“I’m not sure, I’m sure most do though, too many monsters running around to not have walls. Come on we can take in the sights later we need to get this done.”

The two entered the clothing store and began to look around the small store, Audra seemed to be walking just fine. It wasn’t anything fancy, similar to the one back in Nevenal. Vasuki just hoped that the clerk wouldn’t turn into a Daosr and attack the city like the last one had.

Audra purchased a light brown tunic, black trousers, and a gray light jacket. Vasuki purchased a blue doublet and dark gray trousers. They put the newly purchased clothes in provided bags and began to head south.

The Rising Bull Inn was a stone building, painted a deep dark brown, with a statue of a bull standing on top of the building, raising it’s head high. Right across from it was the public bath house.

Entering the bath house they found it to be pretty standard for the city, everything made of stone. Vasuki entered the men’s bathroom undressed wrapped a towel around his waist and went to the outdoor bath as there wasn’t an indoor bath option. The bath was essentially a large pool with a stone outer lining. He wasn’t sure how the bath stayed hot but he could assume it had to do with runes. He put his towel on the ground behind him and sunk chest deep into the pool, enjoying the feeling of finally starting to become clean. He enjoyed finally getting the paste to keep mites from under his scales off of him, it had just reached the point of irritating. He looked around, there was a group of guys over on the far side talking about women, plans that night, work, things he was used to. But they were also looking at him, more importantly his left arm. It was beginning to feel awkward so he hurried his bath and got dressed.

Vasuki pressed his palm against his ear in hopes to get the water out when Audra rounded the corner, barely so much as a limp as she walked. The dirty clothes she had been wearing on their journey were now safely in the bag she had gotten when buying the clothes she now wore, much like Vasuki’s dirty clothes. The jacket went surprisingly well over the tunic and everything seemed to fit nicely.

“Looking good hot stuff.” She said, giving a sly smile as she looked him up and down. “Blue looks good on you.”

“Speak for yourself.” Vasuki claimed. “That jacket fits you like a glove.” He tried to avoid checking her out too much but he couldn’t help it.

“Well I’m glad you agree. Come on Lizard boy, let’s go ask about Noelem, the sooner we find him the quicker we can rest.” She said walking past him. Vasuki couldn’t help watching her ass as she walked, he caught himself and quickly caught up with her.

The Rising Bull inn was the definition of spotless. Vasuki didn’t see a single stain on the floor, or the tables. It was all so polished he could probably see his reflection in the stone if he tried hard enough. The ceiling was just a few feet taller than Vasuki’s head. There were two counters, one, just to the right of the door, with a plethora of alcohol on display behind it, along with a lean, gray haired, man, who wore a black open vest over a white shirt and black trousers, cleaning a glass. And a second bar with a door and a small window that led to the kitchen area. There were a set of stairs that, possibly, led to the rooms on the second floor to the left of the entrance, opposite the bar. It wasn’t busy at the moment as it was the middle of the day, so there were only a few men and women sitting at some of the tables. Vasuki noted that none of them were variants, oh how far from home he was.

“Let me do the talking.” Vasuki suggested. Audra responded with a shrug of her shoulders.

Vasuki approached the man at the bar and sat down on one of the stools.

“What can I help you with?” The man asked.

“Just looking for the innkeeper, would they happen to be in?” Vasuki responded.

“That would be me, you looking for work?”

“Information actually.”

“What kind of information?” He asked slightly looking up, away from the glass he was cleaning.

“I was wondering where I could find a guy named Noelem? I was told to come here.” At this point the innkeeper stopped cleaning the glass, put it down, and looked at Vasuki as if he were insane.

“That monster of a man left this inn a few months back. I don’t know where that bastard is. He comes and goes from public view as he pleases. Now if you don’t have any business here you need to leave.”

“Zu sanu san su Dragon’s Dinn uhr Nevenal, uh zu si’ar ras uhrs russus zuhss ilai phuhu ir suiphu?” Vasuki asked, in the Nashatalian language. Audra looked at him, confused by what he had just said. The innkeeper looked taken aback, before he collected himself and smiled.

“Mil saa uhr ilaisr.” The innkeeper answered, giving a wide smile.

“My name is Daren, I’m happy to help a fellow innkeeper. Though you need to work on a bit of your pronunciation. I’ll have a room for two reserved for you until the end of the day.” Vasuki smiled, somewhat proud of himself. Daren leaned forward before speaking quietly.

“Noelem comes and goes but if you go to the center of town you’ll see a bakery, there’s a woman selling pastries and sweets, her name is Shena, she’s a real sweetheart. The two of them go way back it seems. She might be able to tell you more about his whereabouts.” Seems they weren’t at their destination just yet.

Thanking the innkeeper for his time Audra and Vasuki left The Rising Bull Inn and began to head towards the center of the city.

“I’m sorry, what the fuck was that?” Audra asked.

“While Nevenal was being rebuilt my father told me how to ask for shelter from one innkeeper to the other. Turns out the majority of innkeepers carried on a tradition they used to use back in the War of the Dominion when they couldn’t be sure who was a demon or not. They were called Safeguards and they learned from the Nashatalians how to speak their language to identify who they could or couldn’t trust.” Vasuki explained.

“Okay, but why do they keep on the tradition of the Safeguards?”

“I have no idea.” Vasuki replied. “But it got us a backup room and some information on where to go.”

The center of the city was beautiful, it was a circle surrounded by stores with a fountain centered perfectly within it. Roads separated the circle of stores in each cardinal direction. The pastry shop, known as ‘Shena’s buns’ was on the northern end of the circle, just west of the road.

The smell of Shena’s buns hit Vasuki’s nose before they even opened the door, it was a sweet and warm scent that he welcomed. A tiny bell rung above the door, indicating there were more customers. The interior of the building was painted with a warm yellow color the lower third of which was painted with a bright orange color.

A blonde haired girl ran from the kitchen in the back to behind the counter, she gave a wide smile at the two of them.

“Hey there you two dragons! What can I getchya?” She asked, bubbly. Surprisingly the pastry shop had a severe lack of customers.

“Actually we’re looking for someone.” Audra claimed. “Do you know someone by the name of Noelem?” Her face turned quizzical and she tilted her head.

“Wh...what are you looking for him for?” She asked.

“We were told to meet with him.” Audra replied.

“By whom?” Shena definitely knew.

“Cabana. They’re good friends.” Vasuki added.

“He lives outside of the walls in some of the farmlands to the east of Daemerall, you could go all the way out there, or you could buy some of my pastries? He hasn’t come in today and he comes in everyday.”

They had the leftover money for some pastries so decided to indulge a little bit on the freshly made buns. A ball of bread coated with sugar and filled with cream found it’s way to the duo and 5 gold to Shena´s pocket. It was warm and bursting with sweetness.

“Fuck this is good.” Audra said doing a little dance as she took another bite, of the pastry.

“Definitely worth it to wait for him here.” Vasuki said, staring at their reflection in the window next to them. Audra swallowed her bite of food and began to say something when the bell over the door rang, she looked behind Vasuki and her entire body froze, her eyes were wide.

Vasuki looked back to see a wide dark skinned man, he was short for the average man, a little taller than Audra. He had short black hair, and a strong beard. His eyes were as black as the abyss itself.

“Noelem!” Shena exclaimed.

“Good to see you too Shena.” His voice was deep and he seemed to ignore the two of them as he walked towards the counter.

“These two were looking for you.” She pointed out. He did a double take as he looked at Audra. Vasuki looked at Audra and noticed unrivaled anger glowing in her eyes.

“Audra are you okay?” Vasuki asked, he felt pins and needles against his hand as he reached out to touch her.

“I’ll take the usual Shena, make it quick, I don’t know how long that girl can hold back.” Noelem claimed putting a random amount of gold on the counter.